Hyde Park views and Obama

The majority of these photos were taken by me on November 6, 2008, when I walked to the shopping area east of me. The weather was overcast and dreary and the photos tend to all look alike.
The photos showing 50th St. were taken on November 7th when I went to the library.
Hyde Park is a beautiful area full of trees with lots of interesting people and buildings.
If you do not live through the experience you do not have any idea what happens when someone becomes the President-Elect. The security has been around his house for months but was certainly hiked up the evening he was elected.
In every instance where I thought there would be a problem taking a photograph, I asked the security at the site if I could take a photo. In every instance except one, they said I could.

• View from the front steps of my building. I live on the second floor. This is looking towards the southeast and the corner of 51st and Drexel Blvd. I live on the NW corner of Drexel and 51st St.. My address is a Drexel Blvd. address. The police car is blocking off the street as the Obamas live two blocks down the street on the left.

• This is the NW corner of 51st St. and Drexel Blvd.. There were many TV stations around the neighborhood today.

• This is the SW corner of 51st St. and Drexel Blvd.. This person was across the street from the people above.

• This is also the SW corner area of 51st St and Drexel Blvd.. There is a little street just south of 51st and that is where the people are set up. Between 51st and this little street there is the Drexel Fountain, the oldest fountain in the city and Mr. Drexel stands at the top.

• The Drexel Fountain with Mr. Drexel. Oddly, he never lived in Chicago but after his death his sons gave this property to the city.

• The Drexel Fountain at 51st St and Drexel Blvd..

• Looking east on 51st St.. The Obamas live two blocks down the street on the left. This photo is a close-up of the first picture taken from our front steps.

• This sign is at the base of Drexel Blvd.. The street continues but only as a single street from 51st St. south. It is then called Drexel Ave.. This sign is a few feet to one's left from the photo above this one. It is taken looking north.

• Looking north up Drexel Blvd.. This was taken by standing on the other side of the above sign and the other side of the tree directly behind the sign. My building is directly to the left. The southbound traffic is on the road to the left, in front of my building, and the northbound on the right. One block up on the right is the huge old synagog that is now Jesse Jackson's Operation Push. The synagog built a new building which is across the street from the Obamas house.

• This is my building. You can see the gray blocks down the center. My condo is to the right if that on the second floor. It consists of the rounded windows that are visible and the porch to the right of them. It is large and I have 2,000 sq. ft.. I also have a back porch overlooking our private parking area.

• Anoather view of my building from 51st St..

• The night they declared Obama the President Elect, they stopped the traffic, which included the buses, from using the street. When I came home from the Celebration in Hyde Park they made the announcement at the El station when I went to get on the bus. This is on a tree on 51st St..

• This boarded up house on 51st street, a block from where I live, was the home of Bobby Franks, the murder victim in the famous "Crime of the Century" murder case involving Leopold and Loeb. The house has been used as a day care and a rehersal place for jazz musicians and then was boarded up years ago.

• This is Ingelside that comes into 51st St. This is walking east on 51st.

• This was taken from the same location as the photo above, but looking east down 51st St.. Above the trees by the truck you can see the top of the tower on the synagog that is across the street from the Obamas.

• The police car is parked on 51st. St. and the view is looking north up Ellis Ave. They have all the streets blocked in the area but let the residents park on the side streets.

• Barak Obama and his daughter on their way to a Halloween party Halloween evening. He came home just to be with his children and then went back on the campaign trail. This is in his neighborhood. This is a Chicago Tribune photo. Note the Secret Service people in the background.

• This is 51st St. and Greenwood. The Obamas live across the street, facing Greenwood. There is a narrow lot running along 51st St and the southern side of their house. This is the lot owned by Tony Rezko who was convicted of taking bribes.

• The south side of the Obama's house as seen from 51st St.. Greenwood comes in from the north and from the south at different points and it does not meet at 51st St.. The northern portion is a little further east. The synagog is across the street from their house and the trees along their house are on the lot owned by the notorious Tony Rezko.

• A view of the Obama's house from a little further east on 51st St.. One can see the synagog on the right. No one is permitted to stop or take a photo of the Obama house, As I was walking past the place a police officer who was not very pleasant yelled at me to keep walking, even though I hadn't stopped. He yelled that I could not take a photo, even though I had done so several days previously, while talking with an officer. My feeling is that this particular officer was just throwing his weight around as all of the others have been really nice people to talk with. I had walked past it to go down to the shopping area on east 53rd St. and took this on my way back home. What is bizarre is that the news constantly shows footage of the house and the security on television.

• Looking west on 51st St.. The Obama's house is to the right behind the trees. No one is permitted to stop in this area. If you do, you are told by the police to move on. A few days ago one of the officers told me that there are a lot of people you do not see in the area. They are the Secret Service people. Many of them are visible though, usually at each end of the block the Obamas live in. They are always with a police officer.

• This is further east from the last photo. It is the corner of 51st and Woodlawn. This is looking north up Woodlawn.

• This photo was taken one block up from my condo on Drexel Blvd.. The street to the right of Operation Push (The former K.A.M. Synagog) is 50th St..

• This is 50th St., approaching Greenwood. The Obamas live at the southern end of the block of Greenwood. These are the barricades on the northern end of the street entrance.

• The entrance to Greenwood. I asked the security people if I could take the picture and was told I could, as long as I did not photograph the Obama's house. The house was too far away anyway and not really visible. I suppose if I had had a telephoto lens I might have been able to see parts of it.

• Photo taken from Greenwood St., a few feet north of 50th.

• Looking west on 50th St. past the entrance to Kenwood. I wanted to show the barricades from both directions.

• This is an early Frank Lloyd Wright house on Woodlawn Ave. just south of 51st St.. This is not the famous Wright Robie House, that is several street further south on the U of Chicago campus.

• Note the signs in the window of the Frank Lloyd Wright house.

• WGN-TV (Channel 9) interviewing people on 53rd St..

• Selling T-shirts out of the back of vehicles along 53rd St., across from the well-known Valois Restaurant where everyone in Hyde Park eats.

• The well-known Valois Restaurant. Everyone in Hyde Park has eaten breakfast there numerous times. Jesse Jackson was in line in front of me one morning. Obama also eats there and the morning after the election they had a large sign in the window that the "Obama breakfast" was being served free to anyone who came in. It made the news on all the TV stations.

• More people selling T-shirts. This time it is in front of Hollywood Video, also on 53rd St. This is a few feet east of the Valois Restaurant.

• More T-shirt sellers. This is the corner of 53rd and Harper Court, looking north.

• People lined up to buy any paper with Obama's picture on the front. They say it has been this way for two days and people are willing to stand in line and wait for another delivery of the papers that are being reprinted due to the demand. This is on 53rd St and Lake Park.

Obama Celebration in Grant Park

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• This picture and the picture below were of "Camp Hope". The group spent about two weeks on the corner by my building, appearing each day and leaving around nightfall. They were not protesting, but there to celebrate and "remind" President-elect Obama of the things he had promised and hoped to do. The people had come from various states, as well as Illinois. I would stop and talk with the people every few days and offered a warm place (my condo) if they needed to thaw out, as it was really cold, of if they wanted something warm to drink.
  I was told that a man from Japan saw them on the news in Japan and was so excited about Obama and the election that he flew to Chicago and spent several days with them on the corner.
  
  

• From January 2nd to the 19th a group of people are standing vigil during the day at "Camp Hope". They are there to urge President-elect Obama to deal with pressing issues that affect everyone. The people came from various states to help with the vigil.

I created this page on November 6 and 7, 2008 so I could send the photos and comments to friends. On November 9th, while at a function, people were approaching me, or had sent me emails that they enjoyed looking at it and had sent it on to others. I was surprised as these were people I had not sent the link to. Since at that time the page was not tied to my website, there would be no way of finding it if one had not been sent the link via an email. They indicated they had received it from a mutual friend. That sparked my curiosity and that evening I put a counter on this page and the "Obama Celebration in Grant Park" page so I could monitor the number of hits. I also tied it to my website so I could check it easier. It is only a matter of time before the search engines discover it and list it.
The numbers on the counter above are the number of times this page as been viewed since November 9, 2008. Prior to the 9th, I received an email from an individual in France asking if they could use two photos in the blues magazine they publish.
R. Howard Courtney
November 17, 2008

Election Night in Grant Park

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